Philosophy
I never had one for they were a trifle expensive but I may have killed the neighbor kid for one. I saw one on Ebay sell for nearly $300.
Wikipedia...
Mr. Machine is a once popular children's mechanical toy originally manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company in 1960. Mr. Machine was a robot-like mechanical man wearing a top hat. The body had a giant windup key at the back. When the toy was wound up it would "walk", swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front; and after every few steps emit a mechanical "Ah!", as if it were speaking. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm).
The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical "innards" through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.
Mr. Machine was one of Ideal's most popular toys. The company reissued it in 1978, but with some alterations: it could no longer be taken apart (owing to the tendency of very young children to put small pieces in their mouths which could be accidentally swallowed or present a choking hazard), and instead of ringing a bell and making the "Ah" sound, it now whistled "This Old Man". This later version of Mr. Machine was brought back once more in the 1980s. In 2004, the Poof-Slinky Company remanufactured the original 1960 version (using the actual Ideal molds whenever possible), which made the original sounds and could be disassembled, and with the intention of being marketed to nostalgic adults as a collectible.
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Philosophy
Vintage toy from 1960...Ideal's "Mr. Machine"
I never had one for they were a trifle expensive but I may have killed the neighbor kid for one. I saw one on Ebay sell for nearly $300.
Mr. Machine is a once popular children's mechanical toy originally manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company in 1960. Mr. Machine was a robot-like mechanical man wearing a top hat. The body had a giant windup key at the back. When the toy was wound up it would "walk", swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front; and after every few steps emit a mechanical "Ah!", as if it were speaking. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm).
The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical "innards" through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.
Mr. Machine was one of Ideal's most popular toys. The company reissued it in 1978, but with some alterations: it could no longer be taken apart (owing to the tendency of very young children to put small pieces in their mouths which could be accidentally swallowed or present a choking hazard), and instead of ringing a bell and making the "Ah" sound, it now whistled "This Old Man". This later version of Mr. Machine was brought back once more in the 1980s. In 2004, the Poof-Slinky Company remanufactured the original 1960 version (using the actual Ideal molds whenever possible), which made the original sounds and could be disassembled, and with the intention of being marketed to nostalgic adults as a collectible.
- Turing Tests And Tongue Twisters
When Doug Hofstadter came to visit last year, he made a point that I've continued to marvel at. When we think of artificial intelligence, we usually think in terms of machines being able to do well what we do well. The usual standard is what is called...
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"Push Button for Pizza: A New Era for Vending Machines" by Jonathan Chan July 7th, 2014 Reviewed.com Publications It happens every day: Around 3pm, I start fumbling for quarters and trying to decide which unsatisfying, wastefully packaged, nutritionally...
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Ottmar Mergenthaler May 11th. 1854 to October 28th, 1899 Not a household name of inventors but revolutionized the mechanics of printing. He was the inventor of the hot lead linotype. He is "...regarded as the greatest advance in printing since the development...
- Reboot The Ole "witch"
"Britain’s Oldest Working Computer Roars to Life" by Priya Ganapati September 4th, 2009 Wired The oldest original working computer in the U.K., which has been in storage for nearly 30 years, is getting restored to its former glory. The Harwell...